Uber shares rise on stronger Q1 bookings.


Uber reported stronger first-quarter bookings and issued an above-forecast outlook on Wednesday, as growth in rides, delivery and active users offset the impact of a volatile macroeconomic backdrop.

  • UBER TECHNOLOGIES INC
  • 06 May 2026 16:14:12
Uber Technologies

Source: Sharecast

The ride-hailing and delivery group said gross bookings rose 25% year on year to $53.7bn, or 21% on a constant-currency basis, ahead of Wall Street expectations of about $52.8bn to $52.9bn cited by Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal.

Trips increased 20% to 3.64bn, while monthly active platform consumers rose 17% to 199 million.

Revenue grew 14% to $13.2bn, slightly below analyst expectations of $13.28bn cited by the Journal.

Uber said business model changes reduced reported revenue growth by nine percentage points.

Adjusted EBITDA rose 33% to $2.5bn, ahead of expectations of $2.43bn, while non-GAAP operating income increased 42% to $1.9bn.

GAAP net income fell to $263m, or 13 cents per share, from $1.78bn, or 83 cents per share, a year earlier, reflecting a $1.5bn pre-tax headwind from revaluations of Uber’s equity investments.

Excluding certain items, earnings rose 44% to 72 cents per share, ahead of analyst expectations of 69 cents.

Chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said the company was continuing to deepen Uber’s role in consumers’ daily lives.

“As we highlighted at GO-GET, from innovative travel integrations to new ways to shop, we’re continuing to deepen the role Uber plays in daily life,” he said.

“Reaching 50 million Uber One members is an exciting milestone as we execute against our platform strategy, with members now driving half of our gross bookings across mobility and delivery.”

Growth was broad-based across the business.

Mobility gross bookings rose 25% to $26.4bn, or 20% at constant currency, while delivery bookings increased 28% to $26.0bn, or 23% at constant currency.

Freight bookings rose 6% to $1.33bn, marking what Khosrowshahi described as an early improvement after a difficult period for the unit.

Mobility revenue rose 5% to $6.8bn and segment operating income increased 28% to $2.0bn.

Delivery revenue grew 34% to $5.1bn and segment operating income rose 43% to $961m.

Freight revenue rose 6% to $1.34bn, although the unit reported a segment operating loss of $30m.

Khosrowshahi said growth came despite “heightened geopolitical tensions, higher gas prices and poor weather,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

Bloomberg said that Uber expected its core US rideshare business to accelerate further this year, helped by moderating insurance costs that had previously contributed to higher fares and weaker growth in markets such as San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Uber said it remained focused on artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles while taking a capital-efficient approach.

During the quarter, it launched first-party AI tools, including an assistant for drivers, and announced 10 new or expanded autonomous-vehicle partnerships.

Chief financial officer Balaji Krishnamurthy said the company was using generative AI to support productivity gains and would moderate hiring relative to earlier plans.

“We are off to an exceptional start to 2026, with gross bookings growth exceeding 21% for the third consecutive quarter and earnings scaling at more than twice our topline,” Krishnamurthy said.

“From this position of strength, we’re investing with conviction in the significant opportunities ahead, while taking a capital-efficient approach to AVs and embracing AI to drive growth and productivity.”

Uber also highlighted its push into premium and enterprise services, including corporate travel and chauffeur offerings.

Bloomberg said the company aimed for its business-to-business operations to serve as many as one million organisations and exceed $10bn in gross bookings by 2028, up from more than $5bn in annualised bookings currently.

For the second quarter, Uber forecast gross bookings of $56.25bn to $57.75bn, implying constant-currency growth of 18% to 22% and above analysts’ expectations of about $56.2bn.

It guided for non-GAAP earnings of 78 cents to 82 cents per share and adjusted EBITDA of $2.70bn to $2.80bn.

At 1109 EDT (1601 BST), shares in Uber Technologies were up 8.21% in New York at $78.94.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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